Browsing by Author "Bhushan, S."

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    Brown barcoded as red but reality is green! How epiphytic green algae confuse phycologists?
    (Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2015) Bast, Felix; Bhushan, S.; John, A.A.
    Promises and perils of DNA barcoding are now well-known, but no studies have revealed the extent of taxonomic misidentification of algal specimens available in primary DNA sequence repositories. Our original objective was to assess the molecular identity of the ubiquitous brown alga Turbinaria ornata (Sargassaceae:, Fucales) from the southeast Indian coast. We extracted total genomic DNA from freshly collected algal thalli and sequenced the nuclear ribosomal DNA Internal Transcribed Spacer-1 (nrDNA ITS1) barcode locus. Following a BLASTn DNA sequence similarity search, the identity of our alga was Laurencia thyrsifera, a Pacific red alga that has never been reported in India, which came as a big surprise. Further analyses of BLAST hits using a robust phylogenetic framework of Bayesian Inference led to the conclusion that our sequence belonged to an epiphytic Ulvellacean green algal genus Ulvella, which might have been extracted and amplified with our universal ITS primers. This is the first report for Ulvella from India, and detection of this alga growing on Turbinaria. Our Bayesian analyses revealed that a number of GenBank accessions of this epiphyte are misidentified as red algae, which are published in some of the reputed phycological and botanical journals. This finding could have a profound impact on several of the fallacious phylogenetic conclusions arrived at in these publications. ? 2015 Dipartimento di Biologia, Universit? di Firenze.
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    DNA barcoding of a new record of epi-endophytic green algae Ulvella leptochaete (Ulvellaceae, Chlorophyta) in India
    (Springer India, 2014) Bast, Felix; Bhushan, S.; John, A.A.
    Epi-endophytic green algae comprise one of the most diverse and phylogenetically primitive groups of green algae and are considered to be ubiquitous in the world's oceans; however, no reports of these algae exist from India. Here we report the serendipitous discovery of Ulvella growing on intertidal green algae Cladophora glomerata and benthic red algae Laurencia obtusa collected from India. DNA barcodes at nuclear ribosomal DNA Internal Transcriber Spacer (nrDNA ITS) 1 and 2 regions for Indian isolates from the west and east coasts have been generated for the first time. Based on morphology and DNA barcoding, isolates were identified as Ulvella leptochaete. Phylogenetic reconstruction of concatenated dataset using Maximum Likelihood method differentiated Indian isolates from other accessions of this alga available in Genbank, albeit with low bootstrap support. Monophyly of Ulvella leptochaete was obvious in both of our phylogenetic analyses. With this first report of epi-endophytic algae from Indian territorial waters, the dire need to catalogue its cryptic diversity is highlighted and avenues of future research are discussed. ? 2014 Indian Academy of Sciences.
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    Gelatin: A comprehensive report covering its indispensable aspects
    (Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2016) Ul Rehman, W.; Majeed, A.; Mehra, R.; Bhushan, S.; Rani, P.; Saini, K.C.; Bast, Felix
    Gelatin is a collagen derived product, obtained by incomplete hydrolysis of collagen procured from skin, bones and connective tissues of animals and exhibits flavourlessness, colourlessness and translucency. It is commonly utilised as a gelling agent and also as additive in food, drugs, cosmetics, paints, matches, photographic films and foam stabilizer. The overall amino acid composition and proportion of gelatin varies according to the source of raw material, however glycine, proline and hyrdoxyproline constitute almost 60% of the total amino acid residues while cysteine is absent. Besides being used in food industries, gelatin based composites and blends are used in pharmacy for manufacturing biocompatible gelatin scraps, tissue engineering films and controlled drug delivery systems. This chapter focuses on the physio-chemical properties of gelatin, its extraction, composites and blends. ? 2016 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.